Nature’s Cooling System

Nature’s Cooling System
            Fires, earthquakes, atmospheric rivers, drought, extreme heat. These are some of the natural disasters Californians think about. People in other regions worry about hurricanes, tornadoes, avalanches, monsoons, or typhoons.
            Amid challenges like the recent heat waves around the world, we are lucky to find counterbalances within nature itself.
            As a kid in Upstate New York, hot, humid days made parts of the summer miserable. My brothers and I knew that a walk down our big hill, past the apple trees, and through a barbed wire fence would lead us to Beaver Creek, where we could put our bare feet in icy cold water under shady trees, a great respite from the heat.
            Now I live a short walk from Ocean Beach, a broad sandy expanse facing the Pacific that offers water cold enough to numb one’s ankles even in the heat of summer. The 100-degree Fahrenheit inland temperatures bounce back from the ocean, bringing us cool foggy mornings when we still need to wear a jacket. We remind ourselves to be grateful for the coolness that our foggy neighborhood offers.
            As worrisome as changes in nature and our environment can be, it helps to stop, take a deep breath, and be thankful for the things that still work as they should.
            Find ways to stay cool, physically and mentally, and keep looking ahead.
            This week’s HikingAutism Hike Notes from the archives is Ocean Beach-North End, a wide open beach at San Francisco’s western edge featuring icy water and cooling fog most days.
 
This week’s Hike Notes from the Archives:
(Original Hike Notes 22): Ocean Beach-North End
 
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